PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Gary D. Brossman AU - James J. Vorst AU - Gary C. Steinhardt TI - A technique for measuring soil crust strengths DP - 1982 Jul 01 TA - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation PG - 225--226 VI - 37 IP - 4 4099 - http://www.jswconline.org/content/37/4/225.short 4100 - http://www.jswconline.org/content/37/4/225.full AB - The vertical pressure required to fracture a soil crust from below the surface was measured. Disks (buttons) of 1.2 centimeters (.5 inch) in diameter were attached to a fishline, which was then covered by a soil crust developed from a mixture of sand and cement. Increased crust strength was attained by adding increasing amounts of cement to the sand. Gradually increasing pressure was applied using a pulley system with water as a counterweight. A scale recorded the maximum pull on the fishline for the disk to break the crust. A strong correlation (r2 = 0.96) existed between increasing amounts of cement and measured crust strength. A strong correlation also was observed between measured crust strength and percent emergence of soybean seedings (r2 = 0.98). These relationships accurately depict the effects of crust strength on soybean seedling emergence. The technique developed could be suitable for studying natural soil crusts.